At various merchant locations, such as a merchant grocery store, meat/produce store, liquor store, or even hardware store, the merchant may offer for sale items that may require maturation or may eventually expire. For example, perishable items may have a limited shelf life before the item is no longer acceptable for consumption or useful. Moreover, such items may be required to mature when arriving at the merchant location (e.g., unripe fruit at a grocery store). However, a user shopping for items at the store may not know what items are potentially good or bad without examining each individual item. Additionally, the user may not be able to correctly examine the contents of certain items that may spoil or turn, such as alcoholic beverages, certain fruits, and meats. The user may also wish to have items that mature in a certain amount of time to account for storing the item after the user purchases the item. The user may view expiration dates, “sell by” dates, and/or dates the perishable items have been offered for sale, but the dates may not reflect improper storage conditions or other environmental factors that may affect the perishable items. The merchant may also wish to know whether their storage of the perishable items has been compromised to prevent damage to the item and/or inventory and monetary losses.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.